China wants to get awesome at soccer, and that means big bucks for a handful of companies

Despite the fact that China's population currently stands around
1.3 billion (roughly 20% of the earth's population), its
men's soccer team currently ranks
at a measly 81st in the world.

On top of that, the men's team has
competed in the FIFA World Cup only once — back in
2002.

But now, China is on a mission to become a major
force in the soccer world.

And that's going to be great news for big
sportswear companies.

In March, the Chinese government announced plans to refurbish its
soccer sector, including the separation
of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) from the government
sports regulator, which would, ideally, help decrease
corruption.

Additionally, the government also plans to increase the
number of soccer schools to promote soccer for the
younger generation. They want to go from the current 5,000 to
20,000 in five years, and then to 50,000 in ten.

But while the whole winning-a-World Cup-thing would be
great, Barclays analysts think that the real winners of
China's foray into the soccer world could be major
sportswear companies that already have a presence in the country.

"We believe recent sports campaigns and initiatives introduced by
the China government have created large pockets of opportunities
in the region for brands such as adidas and
Puma," says Barclays analyst Vineet Sharma.

"The latest deal between adidas and the Chinese education
ministry to develop a [soccer] training program should act
as catalyst in promoting football to the youth and we believe
could make [soccer] the fastest growing sport in China over
the next three to five years, albeit from a small base," he
added.

However, "despite recent uncertainty regarding China's
economic performance, it appears that international sports brands
have not been impacted and are not seeing an end to the growth
story within the region. Sports and lifestyle is becoming
increasingly popular amongst Chinese consumers alongside with a
willingness to spend on strong international brands such as Nike,
adidas and Puma," writes analyst Julian
Easthope.

Notably, Nike saw
revenues jump 30% in China in Q3, and it is now
the sponsor of the Chinese national football
team. Furthermore, adidas's Q2 results showed a +19% organic
revenue growth in China, according to Barclays.

Already, "adidas and Nike combined dominate the US
$5bn/year football kit market and adidas recorded EUR2.1 bn (US
$2.35 bn) of [soccer] sales in 2014," notes Easthope. And, if
moreChinese people get into
soccer, then these companies only stand to benefit from
it.

adidas also recently signed a three-year deal with the
Chinese education ministry to promote football in schools "in the
hope of creating interest in the sport," according to Easthope.

"The deal should help adidas nurture the next generation of
football players and inspire new football fans in China, in our
view. This comes at an important time, where the number of fans
watching football is on the rise," adds Easthope.

In sum, as China works to pump up its soccer sector to the top,
the big name sportswear companies will be standing on the
sidelines, collecting the winnings.